


Blocked

by Oyse_Leroy



Category: Not applicable - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Patriarchy, Therapy, Toxic Masculinity, Twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26151124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oyse_Leroy/pseuds/Oyse_Leroy
Summary: A woman celebrity blocks a man on Twitter, and it bothers him so much, he sees a therapist.
Kudos: 1





	Blocked

“So what brings you in today?” Simone asked her visitor.  


“This chick blocked me on Twitter.” Chadwick offered no immediate follow-up or elaboration, as was usually the case with potential clients’ initial remarks.  


“Okay,” Simone acknowledged. “Why did she block you?” They were diving right in.  


“I don’t know. I have no idea. That’s what’s so infuriating about it.” Simone made note of the word infuriating. Chadwick was angry, but at least aware enough to label it. Maybe that was a starting point.  


“You feel that she blocked you for no reason?”  


“No, she blocked me for no reason.”  


“Well I agree that would be odd. Do you know her personally?”  


“It would be odd?”  


Simone remained silent. No intention of encouraging Chadwick’s argumentative state. He caught the message and continued. “I don’t know her in the real world. Just digitally.”  


“Operationally define that for me. What was the nature of your interaction with her?”  


“Well I like her movies. She’s a writer-director. Verified account, blue check.”  


“Ah.” Simone noted Chadwick’s focus on the woman’s status.  


“I showed her some props in her mentions. I love your work, thank you very much, yada yada. I liked some of her tweets, she liked a couple of mine, I was already following her,” Chadwick’s toned changed, “and she followed me back.”  


“I’m gathering that’s a big deal.”  


Chadwick looked annoyed. “Well yeah she’s a celebrity.”  


“I must confess my ignorance,” Simone disclosed. “I know of Twitter but I don’t have an account, so I’m not familiar with the culture of it. I’ll have to ask some questions if that’s okay.”  


“No problem.”  


“Is it uncommon for famous people to connect with… non-famous people on there?”  


“You mean losers.”  


Simone made note. “I mean people who are not famous.”  


“Those are losers according to most people.” Chadwick saw the pause in Simone’s expression. “Okay well maybe that’s not what you were trying to say but…” Simone was quiet. Chadwick explored further. “She seemed different.”  


“From the other celebrities who think you’re a loser?” That might’ve been a little too direct, Simone realized. It flirted with the line. Simone usually tried to match the energy and communication style of her clients. Potential client. But her job was to lead Chadwick into self-awareness, not tell him what to think. This was proving tricky.  


“That’s pretty much how I feel about it,” Chadwick confirmed.  


Feel, a glimmer of objectivity. Simone went further. “Okay. So at this point you feel as though she blocked you because she looks down on you, or believes she’s better than you?”  


“Yes. It’s fucked up because she started off acting like she was cool, and then hit me with the digital finger out of the blue.”  


Simone thought digital middle finger was a clever expression. Chadwick was smart. “About possible reasons for her change of mind, do you remember what you last communicated to her? Before she blocked you?”  


Chadwick, exasperated, pulled out his phone. “I literally said nothing to her for weeks. The last DM was just me mentioning how much I liked an actor that she cast in one of her movies, and she said he’s a good guy. That was it.”  


“What’s a DM?”  


“Direct message.”  


“Oh okay.”  


Chadwick offered Simone his phone.  


“Oh I don’t need to see it.”  


“Just look for yourself.”  


To appease Chadwick, Simone accepted it and looked at the screen. “May I scroll through?” Chadwick motioned his approval.  


Simone slowly slid her index finger down the screen. Before getting far, Simone saw that Chadwick had sent 8 messages to the celebrity, to which she replied only twice, with a “Sure” and “thank you.”  


Simone handed the phone back. “Would you say that you messaged her a lot?”  


“I don’t know. I wasn’t counting. I thought we were cool.”  


“Sure. Well, I’m operating with limited information here, since I’m not privy to all of your exchanges. But ultimately, there’s no way to know why she blocked you, unless she were willing to tell you, and apparently that’s not likely to happen. But let’s talk about why it bothers you enough to seek therapy over it.”  


“You said you don’t understand Twitter, so let me explain it to you. When you block somebody for nothing? It’s like character assassination. Who’s gonna believe it was for nothing?"  


“So you’re concerned that she has the power to make you look bad to other people, because she’s famous?”  


Chadwick stared. “When you repeat back what I said, instead of answering it, what is that?”  


Simone was now feeling uncomfortable. “Clarification.”  


“I feel like you’re trying to say something that you’re not coming out and saying.”  


“Okay.” Simone adjusted in her chair, so she was slightly closer to the M-9 semi-automatic pistol strapped under her desk, with the business end facing Chadwick’s chair. “And what is it that you think I’m trying to say?”  


“That I harassed her. Cuz you asked me if I sent her a lot of messages.”  


“Chadwick, why are you here? What did you come here to get?” Simone’s tone suggested, don’t fuck with me.  


His intensity lowered, perceptibly. “I’m just tired of this happening. Women clowning me. When all I’m trying to do is be nice.”  


“And I’m a woman, so you assume I’m clowning you too.”  


“Listen doc, I wasn’t trying to be funn—”  


“I’m not a doctor. Simone will do.”  


“I meant no disrespect Simone.”  


She patted her desktop. “Did you come here to vent or to get feedback?”  


Chadwick thought about it. “Both I guess.”  


“Are you done venting?”  


“Yep.”  


“I don’t know whether you conducted yourself inappropriately toward her or not. If you did, then you know what that was. If you didn’t, then ask yourself how being in knots over a stranger blocking you on Twitter for no good reason, serves your best interest. Celebrity or otherwise.”  


Simone paused to give Chadwick an opportunity to butt in. He didn’t.  


“I can’t talk self-esteem into you. That’s not how it works. But this rootless need for affirmation is a flag that you should explore.”  


“Why does it feel so bad?” Chadwick asked sincerely.  


“Okay now see that is the way you wanna be. Right there. Acknowledging what bothers you, instead of replacing it with anger because anger feels better. Men do that all the time. Men’s greatest fear is to be humiliated by women. Thank patriarchy for that. You know what women’s greatest fear is? Being killed by men…because they’re humiliated. I don’t know what went down between you two, but I do know that a block sounds like a boundary, and a boundary is to be respected, whether you think it’s justified or not. Now to your question about why it hurts. We’d have to meet more for me to get to the bottom of that, but it sounds like it might be transference, something that happened to you in the past, and this Twitter situation reminded you of it.”  


Chadwick’s eyes were on Simone’s desktop. He nodded slowly.  


“What is patriarchy?”


End file.
